


Timeout

by sarcasmismyweapon



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Cute, Cute Peter Parker, Funny, Gen, Natasha Is So Done With Tony, Nervous Peter Parker, Peter Parker Meets the Avengers, Peter Parker in Trouble, Peter gets put in timeout, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie), Post-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Protective Natasha Romanov, Protective Tony Stark, Sarcasm, Sarcastic Peter Parker, Sassy Peter Parker, Sassy Tony Stark, curious Avengers, grounded peter parker
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-15
Updated: 2019-06-23
Packaged: 2020-05-12 12:59:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19229617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sarcasmismyweapon/pseuds/sarcasmismyweapon
Summary: Peter is caught off guard in one of Mr. Stark's labs, in his Spider-man suit and not wanting to get caught he does what any sane person who can climb up walls would do. He hunkers himself into a corner on the ceiling and prays that Mr. Stark will get there before anyone notices him.  Shame that the people who wander in aren't just scientists looking for materials, but rather, the Avengers.





	1. Getting noticed

**Author's Note:**

> I just love the idea of Peter hunkering himself in the corner on the ceiling, it just makes me smile and that is why I ended up writing this. Nothing but cute Peter and snarky Tony Stark.
> 
> Also, in case this isn't obvious, it's not entirely canon compliant as the rogues are back and preparing to move into the new Avengers compound.

Peter heard voices, and not in the ‘I hear voices’ kind of way, but in the someone is approaching. Now ordinarily this wouldn’t have been an issue, but at the moment he was in his Spider-man gear and visiting Mr. Stark. Peter suddenly didn’t feel as warm and fuzzy about being found in a multi-billionaire dollar tech genius’ lab alone dressed up as he was. Well, to be fair Peter would be just as nervous if he was in his street clothes. Still, all of this nervous energy had to go somewhere and fearing that he was about to be discovered by some workers of Mr. Starks, Peter did the only thing he could do. He climbed the nearest wall and sat there, hunkered in the corner at the very top of the ceiling like an actual spider.

Carefully he whispered. “Karen...Can you...Like, tell Mr. Stark that I really need him to hurry up.”

“Of course Peter, I’ll send the message through Friday. Are you okay?”

Peter swallowed, whoever was approaching was right outside the lab. “That depends on what happens next Karen...Shh.” He hushed the AI as if anyone else would be able to hear her but him. Peter knew his brain wasn’t working at that moment, but stress. Stress was bad and it made him react to things differently, kinda like how his spidey senses were going mad and wouldn’t stop. Imminent danger. Warning. Run. That was the kind of thing you paid attention too, shame that Peter couldn’t heed it. He was literally stuck in a corner, Peter closed his eyes letting out a small whine when he heard the lab door open. ‘Crap.’ Opening his eyes Peter wasn’t prepared for what he saw. Oh shit. Oh...This was bad. This was so so so SO BAD! 

Peter wasn’t alone which was bad, but what made it altogether horrifying was the fact that the people who had just walked in were the Avengers. Some of which he’d fought in Germany, not that the others particularly knew him. He’d never met them except for that day, so now was like the worst possible time to meet them all again. Awkward and altogether wrong if Peter got right down to it. But who knew, maybe they’d walk on through once they found out that Mr. Stark wasn’t there? His hopes were dashed when he saw the only woman in the group hop up to take a seat on one of the workstations, Peter knew he was screwed. Where was Mr. Stark?

“Peter, Mr. Stark would like me to send his deepest apologies, he’s running late and has informed me to tell you to start working on your project without him. He trusts you not to blow anything up while he’s gone.”

Peter swallowed, as much as he would have loved to send a message back, he couldn’t, not if he didn’t want to get caught. Now that he was on his own for however long it took Mr. Stark to sort out whatever it was he was doing, Peter realized the exact scope of how screwed he was. He couldn’t stay in the corner until they left, could he? Taking a small breath, Peter closed his eyes and tried his best to calm his heartbeat down. He was safe in the little corner and no one knew he was there if he stayed quiet everything would be fine. The Avengers would leave eventually and Mr. Stark would return. No. Big. Deal.

Peter should have noticed that the cheerful banter going on between all of the Avengers had stopped, but he was too focused on what he was doing to realize it. That is until his spidey sense flared and on instinct alone, Peter flipped himself to be on the ceiling thus avoiding the arrow that had been shot at him. His eyes opened in an instant and he shouted.

“Dude! You could hurt someone with those things.”

Clint smirked. “Was kinda the point.” He still had his bow at the ready but deferred to Steve when the man took a step closer to the man who was clinging to the ceiling. 

“Were you spying on us?” There was an edge to his voice.

“No.” Peter muttered. “I was working.”

“On the ceiling...”

Peter huffed, figuring the best thing to do was to play nice or at least make himself look as least threatening as possible, Peter used his web shooter to make a strand of webbing and slid down upside down until he was a few feet in front of Captain America himself. 

“That better?” Peter sassed, he was nervous being in front of someone as esteemed as Captain America himself...That tended to end up with him making a spectacle of himself.

Steve smirked. “How do you do that?”

Peter shrugged, it didn’t come across right since he was upside down but he followed quickly with. “How do you catch that shield when it’s going way too fast to be safe?”

Steve nodded, taking the question for what it was, not a real inquisition on his abilities but a throwback to him asking what the man could do. “Tony know you’re here?”

Peter sighed before explaining. “He’s late.”

“Late as in he knew you were coming or late as in you were going to get the jump on him?” Natasha asked even as she played with a knife.

“Umm...Late as in I think he hung up on some ambassador dude and Mrs. Potts is tearing into him as we speak.”

Natasha gave a bark of laughter. “Right. Didn’t answer my question.”

“He knew I was coming-” Then because he knew they wouldn’t believe him Peter called out. “Friday did Mr. Stark expect me today?”

“Yes, you were to arrive at 2:00 pm, you arrived at 1:50 pm. Boss is running late.”

Peter muttered out a soft. “I know.”

Natasha gave a nod. “Alright what business you got with Tony? Haven’t seen you since-”

“The airport?” Peter interjected. “Yeah...I’ve never been to Germany before...That was interesting, can’t say I really want to go back.”

The group chuckled, Steve being so bold to state. “Queens.”

Peter twisted his head. “Yep.” He nodded.

“Stick closer to home then.” Rhodey surmised. “Tony hasn’t said anything about you to me...Strange since he tells me everything.”

Peter shrugged again. “If it makes you feel better he doesn’t tell me anything either.”

Rhodey chuckled at the man’s brutal honesty.

“So what were you working on?” Clint asked even as he folded up his bow, Peter watched him and unable to contain himself asked. “Is that poly fiber?”

Clint paused, looked down at his bow and then back to the man, nodding. “How’d you-”

Peter laughed, removing a hand from his web to wave at himself and point to the webbing. “I’m a science nerd if you couldn’t tell.”

Clint smirked. “Right...You make that stuff?” He pointed to the web the man was hanging upside down from.

“Yep.”

“And Tony didn’t help with that?” Natasha inquired curiously.

“No.” Peter shook his head before readily supplying them with the knowledge. “I glued him to a door when he came to find me the first time, he thinks it's pretty cool.”

“Tony would.” Rhodey muttered.

“Where’d he find you?” Steve questioned as he moved a bit, seeing how the man was braced on what appeared to be such a thin string. Peter countered his movements, following him.

“Queens dude, weren’t you listening?”

Steve chuckled. “Right...How’s that holding you up? I couldn’t break it in Germany, strong stuff and all.”

Peter nodded. “Yeah, has to be for what I use it for.”

“And that would be?”

Peter surprised them by flipping off of the web, landing in a crouch on the nearest workstation. Peter hopped down from there before answering. “I swing.”

“Swing.” Natasha replied deadpanned.

Peter nodded, shooting out a line of web and smiling to himself as they all jerked back as it hit the ceiling on the other side of the room. “Watch this.” Peter grabbed the web and literally swung to the other side, arching himself upward and landing on the wall, climbing the short gap to the ceiling. “See?”

“Wow...And you do that where?”

“Queens.”

Clint sighed. “Yeah, where in Queens?”

“Umm everywhere?” Peter wasn’t sure why he was confused by that, but rather than argue Peter called out. “Friday play Spider-man clip 7.”

“Playing.”

A holographic image appeared in the center of the room, staring Peter himself as he swung through the skyscrapers of Queens, going from building to building all on his webs. The clip cut off as the teen rounded a corner and arched himself high up into the air before giving a holler of joy and falling to the earth, at the last minute shooting out a line of web and slinging forward once more.

The clip ended and the group of Avengers stared back at him. “You do that all the time?”

“Well...Yeah.”

“That’s gotta be killer on your arms.” Clint muttered as he rolled his shoulders.

Peter tilted his head. “Uh well sorta...I can...Heal?”

“What do you mean heal?” Steve questioned.

Peter climbed down from the ceiling, approaching the group he shrugged. “Part of my mutation I guess, I can heal...Like really fast, it’s great when you get beat up a lot like me. Mr. Stark says I’ve given him a heart attack one too many times, but that’s just because of all the stuff he put in my suit.”

“He gave you your suit?” Rhodey questioned with no loss of irritation.

“Um...Yeah? He put in a whole bunch of protocols and the AI reports back to Friday...Medical alerts and stuff.” Peter waved a hand. “He does it becaus-”

“Because Underoos gets in over his head.”

Peter twisted sharply, oh, well, there was Mr. Stark. “Uh hey...Mr. Stark.”

Tony glowered at the kid a moment before pointing sharply. “Corner now.”

Sighing the teen marched over to a nearby wall and climbed up into the corner, the Avengers all watched on in stunned silence. Tony nodded when the kid was in place.

“Not a word Underoo’s the adults are talking.”

“Yes. Mr. Stark.”

“Tony, what is going on?” Rhodey had a steely look.

“Nothing, what’s up with you Rhodes?”

The fake bravado didn’t fool him, Rhodey pointed a sharp finger at the man in the corner of the ceiling. “What is that?!”

Peter’s head came up in indignation. “Hey! I’m not a -”

“Underoos!”

Peter ducked his head once more, not wanting to upset Mr. Stark anymore than he already had.

“Tony, what’s going on?” Steve glanced from the figure in the corner to his friend.

Tony shrugged. “Nothing to see here cap.”

“There’s a guy hunkered in the corner of your ceiling man, that’s a bit of something to see.” Clint chuckled all while maintaining eye contact with the figure. The eyes of the persons mask kept shifting, squinting at times as if it was angry. Clint found it altogether amusing.

“Yes, he’s in time-out, now what brings you to my lovely abode?”

Natasha snorted. “Tony, don’t be coy, introduce us...We never got the privilege.”

“Alright. Spider-man, black widow...I’m sure you two will be BFF’s in no time seeing as your both of the arachnid family.” Peter gave a wave, Natasha smirked. “That was not an invitation underoos.”

Peter sighed, letting his hand fall back to the wall, Mr. Stark was obviously still upset about last night. Having his friends stumble upon Peter probably wasn’t helping things.

“Tony.” Rhodey put his foot down. “Come on man, what is going on?”

“Nothing. Just doing some suit maintenance, what brings you all here.”

“Pepper sent us.” Steve replied coolly. “She wanted us to get together to go over the changes to the new compound.”

“Ah...Yes, I think I-No-Nope, don’t remember her saying anything about that.”

Steve sighed, having played this game more than once the super soldier asked. “Friday, did Pepper send us?”

“Indeed, Mrs. Potts arranged for a 3:30 meeting to be held here, the itinerary was sent to all those invited and Mrs. Potts added it to bosses schedule on all the devices he was most likely to see before the scheduled appointment. I sent an al-”

“Thank you, Friday.” Tony bit out.

All eyes went to the figure in the corner when he was caught snickering, he froze. “Underoos, today is not your day.”

Peter sighed. “Yes. Mr. Stark.”

“Go downstairs, find that black case thing that I need to fix your suit.”

“Umm?” Peter dropped down from the ceiling with ease. “Black case thing? Do I ge-”

“Nope, go.”

Groaning Peter stalked out of the room, calling out. “Friday help.” As the door shut behind him. Steve leveraged a stony look at Tony, the mechanic smirked. 

“So, what brings you guys here exactly? New digs right? That’s what was on the memo I think.” Tony tapped his finger on the desk beside him. “Alright, let’s pull up the specs but nobody gets to call dibs on bedrooms just yet. I still have adjustments to make.”

“Tony.”

Tony sighed, turning to give a bored look at Steve. “Yes, Rogers? And no, before you ask I am not painting the building red, white, and blue, if you want to paint your room like that then fine, just keep your spangling colors there.”

Steve frowned at the man’s refusal to use his name and tirade over paint colors. “What is up with Spider-man?”

“Nothing.” Tony shook his head. “Just some suit maintenance like I said.”

“And he’s coming to you because you gave him his suit.” Rhodey added. “Which means you know who he is and why he’s doing what he’s doing.”

“Yes on all accounts.” Tony nodded.

“And?” Clint pushed.

“And...You strike me as the jacuzzi tub type, but no promises we’re running low on space.”

Clint groaned when Tony broke away from the topic at hand, Steve wasn’t so content to just listen to Tony’s diversions. “Friday, bring up what you know on Spider-man.”

Tony twisted. “Delay that Fri.” He pointed a finger at Steve. “Don’t step on my toes, kids got a good heart, just wants to protect the little guy. Just helping him find his way is all, we good?”

“What do you mean by that exactly?” Rhodey frowned. 

Tony hummed to himself. “Exactly that, he protects Queens, sometimes a bit further out but I’ve been trying to keep him localized to his home turf. He takes care of small crime, ATM robberies, cats in trees.” Tony smirked. “The things that are too below your paygrade Rogers, happy?”

Steve sighed. “And you gave him a suit, one of your suits?”

Tony snorted. “Good gods no, I built him one of his own.” Tony shook his head at the absurdity of it all as he pushed past Rhodey to get to the nearby workstation. Sorting through some things, before pulling a black satchel out from underneath the table.

“Isn’t that what you sent him for?” Clint asked curiously.

“Hmm? Oh, would you look at that.” Tony smirked not the least bit repentant for getting Peter out of the way for a few minutes.

“Tony this is big, you don’t just build anyone a suit.” Rhodey rounded on his best friend, coming to stand on the other side of the workstation that Tony was placing tools in a meticulous order on.

“No, I know that Rhodes, part of my handbook of not handing out weapons of mass destruction.” Tony hummed as he juggled two screwdrivers, ultimately choosing the flat head.

“Tony.” Steve bit out sharply. “Is he-Is Spider-man going to be joining us at the new compound?”

Tony looked up, thought about it and then shook his head. “Might crash by a few times, but no, he’s got a place to stay.”

Steve nodded. “And are you going to really introduce us?”

Tony gave a flat look. “What do you want me to say Rogers? Spider-man, Cap, Cap, Spider-man?”

“Shouldn’t we know who he is if we’re going to be trusting him with access to the compound?”

Tony scoffed. “No, and for multiple reasons the most important of which is that I’m building the compound, I trust him, ergo he can come in when he wants.”

The others snorted, far too used to Tony’s melodramatic ways of ‘claiming’ things.

“How do we know its okay to trust him?” Natasha asked as she leaned forward on the workstation she was perched from.

“You trust me don’t you?” Tony stated factually. “Wait, don’t answer that.” He pointed to her sharply as she grinned. “The point is, if you can trust me to build an entire compound for you to live in, then I think you can trust me not to give access to some kind of serial killer spider.”

Natasha rolled her eyes, but any further commentary was cut out by the door to the room coming open. Spider-man stalking over and then in a huff muttering. “That was so not cool.”

Tony smirked. “Problem Spidey?”

“Dude! Friday scared the bejesus out of me, like full 360 spidey sense going haywire.” He waved his hands around his head like a cloud was around him.

“Interesting...Did you avoid it?”

“Yes.” It was stated firmly but in a petulant tone.

Tony chuckled. “Ah, don’t be like that kid, you weren’t in any real danger. Friday wouldn’t hurt you, would you Friday? She couldn’t hurt a fly.”

Peter groaned. “If this is some way to link back to a spider joke I’m telling Mrs. Potts.”

Tony chuckled at the put out teens response. “No joke, just a little test for the new sensors.”

Peter tilted his head. “Really? I thought we already upgraded them?”

Tony scoffed. “Seriously kid, you got a lot to learn.”

The clearing of a throat had Peter twisting, oh, right, they weren’t alone. “Hi.” He waved his hand gaining a smirk from Captain America.

“Spider-man, Tony here was telling us about you.”

“Oh, rea-”

“Not...I was not telling you about him.” Tony pointed a screwdriver at the teen. “Zip it.”

Peter nodded. 

Steve sighed, whatever power Tony had over the man it seemed concrete. “Look, I’m sure Tony’s...Doing what he’s doing because he thinks it’s helpful.”

Tony rolled his eyes even as he started dismantling a broken web shooter.

“But, we’d like to get to know you a bit better since there’s a good chance we’ll run into each other from time to time.”

Peter swallowed, as much as he’d love to do that, Mr. Stark had said to be quiet or at the very least not introduce himself. “Well, Um...I’m Spider-man.” The teen shrugged.

Tony snickered at the kid's lame attempts to introduce himself to Rogers all while trying to stay on his good side. The kid was smart, especially after what happened last night.

“Yeah, got that one.” Clint muttered. “How about a name? A real one.”

Peter went still, quiet. “Mr. Stark...Doesn’t wan-”

“What do you want?”

“Natasha.” Tony bit out in warning. “Don’t tempt the little spiderling alright?”

She smirked. “I won’t Tony.” She winked at the teen.

Peter flushed. “Oh...Um well, I just want to help people I guess...The little guys, like me or really like I was.”

“Like you were.” Rhodey focused. “You aren’t so little now? Cause of the suit right?”

Tony laughed, outright laughed at that. Earning himself glares and befuddled look from Peter.

“Oh uh no...” The teen shook his head. “The suits amazing, but I-I meant before...My-” A clearing of a throat had Peter abbreviating. “Accident.”

All eyes glared at Tony, but the man wasn’t watching them, head stuck down in his work.

“Accident huh?” Rhodey appraised the man. “What kind of accident?”

Peter didn’t miss a beat on that one, not at all worried about saying something Mr. Stark didn’t want him to say. “The kind that lets you walk on walls.”

Tony smirked at the kid's witty comeback, adjusting a small calibration all while listening to the Avengers failing to get information out of the teen.

“So you keep an eye on Queens huh?”

Peter nodded to Captain America. “Yeah, hometown and all.”

“Right.” Steve smirked. “ Had to admit it was strange going back home after so long, big change.”

Peter blinked a few times, he would have loved nothing more than to ask a billion questions but when he got a small zap in the hip with a zapper he knew Mr. Stark wasn’t playing around. He jumped and hissed. “Ow. That’s so mean Mr. Stark.” Tony smirked as he pulled back the extended device. Huffing Peter looked back at the man who was frowning once more at Mr. Stark. “Well, that must have been weird, I mean being frozen and then waking up in a new century. Strange and then waking up only to find out that Brooklyn is still nothing compared to Queens, a harsh blow man.”

Steve chuckled at the man taunt. “You got spunk kid.”

“Thanks.” Peter nodded only to hiss when he was zapped again. Peter twisted sharply trying to snatch the device from Mr. Stark only for the man to have pulled it back. A knowing grin on his face. Peter snorted and without a single pause shot out a line of web and snatched the zapper back. Tony glared as the teen threw it at the wall and webbed it there.

“I needed that.” Tony replied sourly.

“About as much as he needed electroshock therapy to keep him from talking.” Clint laughed. “What’s your deal man, you ashamed of us?”

Tony chuckled. “Yes, you're my sordid love child that I can’t bear to see brought to light, honestly Clint. Can’t a man have some secrets?”

“You...No.” Rhodey replied. “Because your the man who went in front of an entire news broadcast and claimed that you were Iron man.”

Peter snickered at that, standing up taller when Mr. Stark gave him a look a solid point of a finger had the teen's mood shifting. Sighing the teen walked over to the wall and pulled the little zapper out of the webbing, it took a bit of work even for him. Solvents were your friend when it came to the webbing, but Peter didn’t want to get into another debacle about him not having any on him...Because he didn’t. Bringing the device back, Peter winced when he was zapped as punishment.

“Off.”

Peter huffed, taking off the web shooters on his wrists and putting them on the table, taking a seat himself and putting his masked chin into the palm of his hand. “I could just come back later.” He tilted his view towards the others. “So you all can talk.”

“Hardly kid, they’ll just be badgering me about you, might as well ignore them and get some work done.”

Peter wasn’t so sure about that, but sat up straight and began to tinker with his web shooters, grabbing a file be began to file down the small edge that the left one had developed from all the hasty ejections of the web canisters. The silence lasted all of five minutes before Rhodey caught their attention.

“Hey Pepper, it’s Rhodey, I was wondering-”

“Friday emp please.”

The lights flickered a moment before solidifying. Peter’s shocked gaze went to the man who was now holding his phone in shock. “Dude, did you just EMP his phone?! Awesome!”

Rhodey glared back at the enthused man. “Yeah, great, not like I didn’t have important things on here.”

Tony waved a hand. “That’s what you get for trying to gain intel from my girlfriend.” He looked up long enough to say. “Also, she wouldn’t have told you anything.”

“Then why’d you do that?” Rhodey waved his phone in the air.

Tony smirked. “Cause you tried.”

Peter watched the pair began to go back and forth with increasingly biting comments, looking over to the other silent figures in the room as Mr. Stark argued with Colonel Rhodes. “Do-They do this a lot?”

The others nodded. “Oh-Okay, thanks.” Peter frowned as he watched the heated debate continue.

“How long have you known Tony?” Clint questioned even as he smirked when he heard Rhodey bringing up some great blackmail material against Tony.

“Oh, I-”

“Don’t answer that.” Tony pointed a finger at him before getting right back into his argument with Rhodey.

Peter sighed, looking to the archer. “What he said?”

Clint wasn’t the only one to snort at the man's lame retort. “You can’t hide behind Tony forever.” Natasha implored the man. “Gotta stand on your own two feet, so what are you hiding?”

“Nothing. Honestly, just a kid from Queens.”

Natasha’s brow pulled together in an instant. “Say that again?”

“What?”

“What you said before.”

Peter was confused but did as asked. “I’m just a kid from Queens.” His voice was hesitant, mostly because Peter didn’t yet grasp why she wanted him to repeat himself.

Natasha nodded her head, looking to Clint she uttered. “Shoot him.”

“Woah. hey now! No-”

Peter gasped at the woman's order, snapping on a web shooter to stop the arrow he anticipated to be coming his way only to put it on in just the nick of time to shoot the arrow aimed for Mr. Stark out of the way. Peter rounded. “Why would you do that?!”

Natasha ignored the frantic question, instead, she pointed a finger at him. “Corner, now!”

Peter blinked back in shock. “Umm...” Looking to Mr. Stark, Peter asked. “Can she do that?”

“Yes, I can.” Natasha quipped. “Go.”

Tony glared at Natasha, giving the teen a look. “We’ll discuss time out priveledges later.”

Natasha folded her arms in front of her chest, a steely look on her face. “Clint.”

The man notched another arrow, Tony chose to pick his battle wisely. “Go back downstairs kid.”

“Umm...Is he going to shoot another arrow at you? Because if that’s the case, maybe I should stay.” The teen anxiously watched the archer, the arrow he’d snatched out of the air held in his spare hand.

Tony gave the teen a solid look as he reiterated. “Go downstairs, I’ll be fine. I promise Clint won’t shoot me.”

Peter looked back at the man, wary. Steve took note. “Clint won’t shoot him kid.”

Peter took a cautious step away from the workstation as if he was afraid all at once people would change their minds.

“Go on kid.” Tony nodded.

“Is this like timed or should I just-”

Tony chuckled. “I’ll tell Friday when the coast is clear.”

Peter nodded. “O-Okay, sure.” Peter looked at all of the Avengers one last time before turning to leave. He twisted sharply back around to lay the arrow on the table, shooting the archer a worried look and then finally, turning to leave. Peter could sense the tension in the room but didn’t stop until he was outside. The teen took a deep breath when the door shut behind him, walking towards the elevator for the second time that day Peter called out. “Friday...Would you keep an eye on Mr. Stark for me? They sounded kinda mad.”

“Of course, I’ll keep tabs on boss.”

Peter smiled beneath his mask, at least in part feeling better for having left the man to fend for himself. He really hoped Mr. Stark didn’t get any more arrows shot his way.

 


	2. Better than me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony faces backlash from the Avengers for including a kid in the battle, Tony brings Peter back in to properly meet the Avengers if nothing more than to get them off his back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright folks here's the conclusions of Timeout. I hope you all enjoyed the story. Many thanks to all of you who wrote comments for the first chapter, I love hearing from people.

  
  


Tony held his hands up, Natasha was invading his comfort zone a very lethal looking blade accompanying her despite Steve’s attempts to get her to back down and just explain what she thought she’d figured out. Clint still had his bow poised, trusting his partner when it came to being pissed at Tony, she had pretty good instincts.

“Did you even remotely think that I’d be okay with this?” She hissed.

“Wasn’t asking your opinion.” Tony replied coolly before adding. “Not on you-” He grimaced when the blade came closer than he would have liked.

“If I don’t do something it is.”

“Nat.” Even Clint seemed concerned now.

“Kid’s got a good heart, was doing stuff even before I came on the scene. Only thing I did was give him the means of protecting himself rather than running around in a onesie.”

Natasha frowned. “Explain.”

Tony huffed at the order but didn’t refuse the request seeing as it was backed up by Natasha and her knife. “I found him through viral videos, a new superhero in Queens. Was making quite the scene and all that, stood out like a sore thumb.” Natasha raised a brow, a clear indication that he should get on with it. “Even if I’d walked away, he still would have been doing stuff. Better he has one of my suits to guard his ass than just run around in his pajamas doing it. The tech, his web shooters.” Tony pointed to the remaining device that Peter hadn’t taken with him. “He made those Nat, made them, from spare parts in his bedroom of all places. The web fluid? The stuff that even Capcicle over there can’t break barehanded? Yeah, that’s the kids too.”

Natasha frowned, looking towards the proof of what the kid had been up to before Tony stepped in.

“He got himself in deep before I even remotely had a chance to tell him to back off and even when I did, he ignored me and went out in his onesie again. I figured it was better to be on his side nagging than on the other wondering why I didn’t do anything at all before it became too late.”

Natasha’s knife fell away as she stared back at Tony. “When’d you meet him?”

“Known about him a few months, didn’t meet face to face until a week out from Germany.”

Natasha’s glare returned, but her knife remained coolly at her side. She knew Tony was telling the truth and it was that fact that bartered him some leeway. “Did you even explain-”

“Gave him the rundown-Cliff notes edition. He wanted to help.”

“He’s a kid.” Natasha snapped. “And you’re Iron man, who would say no to you?”

“Wait...Do you mean he-” Rhodey looked towards the door where Spider-man had left. “No. Tones, please don’t tell me- I mean...I thought he sounded young but-”

“That he brought some kid from Queens, an actual kid into a battle.” Natasha harped. “Yeah, that’s exactly what he did.”

Steve swallowed reflexively. “I dropped a freight carrier on him.”

Tony snorted. “Heard about that, he was upset that you managed to use his webs against him. Good teachable moment.”

Steve glared at the man’s cheerful banter in the face of what could have happened. “I could have killed him Tony!”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Come on Rogers, we both know that with as bad as that fight was in Germany, no one beside Rhodey got seriously hurt. That KID that you’re all whining about, can heal, and I don’t mean a little bit, I mean that the broken ribs he got from that day were healed by the end of the week. I wouldn’t have put that kid in danger if I didn’t think that he was altogether capable of taking it on or knowing when to tap out. I gave him orders to keep his distance.”

“He didn’t though.” Steve replied factually, pointing out to Tony. “He fought me on the ground.”

“He did, and I lectured him up one side and down the others.” Tony assured the man. “Kid was still learning, he’s got a better grasp on things now...Got the whole trust thing going on. Hasn’t even hacked his suit in over a month, I’m proud of him.”

“Wait...He can hack his suit?” Rhodey frowned utterly confused, he shook his head. “That’s not possible, you code everything.”

“Kids a natural, we’ve got boundaries now. It’s all worked out.” He shrugged effortlessly. 

“No, it’s not.” Clint muttered even as he held his bow at the ready. “Powers or no powers he’s got no right to be fighting criminals on the streets of New York man.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Guess you missed the part Barton where I said he was doing that for months before I met him. Kid’s got a chip on his shoulder, survivors guilt, had his abilities chose not to do something with them, ended up losing someone because of it.”

“That’s not his fault.” Steve rallied.

“Never said it was.” Tony replied coolly before Steve could get worked up. “Just said the kid sees it that way, got a mindset about it, been taking a lot of effort on my part to try and get through that thick skull to the intelligent brain inside. We’re working on it.”

“Does Pepper know?” Rhodey questioned out of the blue, raising his phone. “Is that why you stopped me? Cause she doesn’t know?”

Tony scoffed. “Please, you think I’d keep something like this from Pepper.” Silence. “Okay that hurts, like on a deep emotional level, but no, that’s not why I stopped you. I didn’t want the kid's identity being brought up, he wants to stay anonymous alright? And frankly, I can’t trust your phone not to be secure enough for that kind of intel. You, I trust, everyone else I’d rather blissfully ignored their existence.”

“So Pepper knows.” Rhodey fished.

Rolling his eyes Tony muttered. “Friday does Pepper know who Spider-man is?”

“Yes, she has yelled at you exactly 34 times about it.”

Nodding Tony gave his friend a ‘see’ look. Rhodey chuckled. “34 times huh?”

“Mostly about his curfew, even she knows there’s no stopping the kid.”

“Curfew?”

Tony shrugged at Steve. “If we let him, the kid wouldn’t sleep...More of that chip I was talking about.”

Steve gave a nod as he mused aloud. “So you set up rules for him.”

“Damn straight I did, he doesn’t follow them then Friday and Karen take over.”

“Karen?”

“Ah, kid named the AI in his suit.” Tony waved a hand. “He got trapped in a secure hanger and had to spend a couple of hours hacking a security code, he got to know her really well in that time and chose a name.” The others stared back at him as if he was nuts, Tony chose to ignore it. “So...We all on the same page?” His eyes especially lingered on Natasha and further back Clint.

She glared, stashed her knife and ordered. “I want to talk to him.” Clint took that for what it was and finally lowered his bow.

Sighing Tony muttered. “Friday, bring up the kid.” It wasn’t worth arguing, he knew they wouldn’t go away until they got to meet the kid properly.

“What’s his name?” Clint pressed.

Tony waved a hand, irritated that he was being forced to do things he didn’t want to do. “In a minute.”

To the groups surprise it didn’t take more than five minutes for the boy to return from wherever it was he’d wandered off to. Peter cam running in panting a bit.

Tony tilted his head as he took in the sight of the teen, he’d been up to something. “What were you doing? No, don’t answer that, we have guests and I don’t want to have to explain whatever it is you got up to while I wasn’t watching you.”

Peter frowned the lenses of his suit squinting a moment as a petulant voice muttered. “I didn’t do anything Mr. Stark...Well, other than climbing the wall in the rec room a bit.”

Tony huffed partly amused and also slightly put out. “Kid if you got webbing on that wall again-”

“Only a little bit.” Peter made a small amount between his thumb and forefinger. The Avengers smirked at the boy attempts to placate Tony.

“Fine, you know what forget it, I’ll make you clean the ceiling later.” The man completely disregarded Peter’s follow up of “But I didn’t get any on the ceiling.” The rest of the Avengers noticed but just smiled.

“Kid, the Avengers...Or most of them, some are on vacation. Mask off.”

Peter blinked. “Umm...I thought that was a bad idea?”

Tony gave him a look, his glasses falling down a hair to rest on the bridge of his nose so he could stare at him over the lenses. “And I told them to leave, we don’t always get our way, so in exchange for them leaving me alone they’re going to say hi to whose under that mask.” Peter swallowed at the man’s conintued glower. “Off.”

Groaning Peter reached up and pulled on the mask, tearing it free and giving a shake of his head. He was sweaty, but Peter hoped that he didn’t make a bad first impression. Smiling if a little nervous, Peter waved with the hand not holding his mask. “Hey.”

The others smiled, Steve being the one to reply. “Hey, kid.”

“Alright, let’s get this over with then, shall we? Spider-man this is the Avengers, Avengers this is Spider-man otherwise known as my intern and otherwise - otherwise known as Peter Parker.”

Peter crinkled up his nose at that. “I-I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to say it Mr. Stark, besides the whole internship is fake.”

“Well, yes, but they need to understand your cover kid we don’t want it getting out that your being used in some sort of sweatshop gig.”

“Oh.” Peter nodded as if that made perfect sense.

Tony rolled his eyes. “Peter here has an internship with me-”

“You don’t take interns.” Rhodey muttered cutting off whatever Tony was going to say. “That’s a sad excuse for a cover.”

Peter’s eyes widened as Tony glared at Rhodey, taking the initiative Peter informed the man. “It-It wasn’t for the press, I mean-Not totally. It was for my aunt.”

“You’re aunt?” Steve questioned. “Why your aunt?”

“Oh..Uh yeah, I live with my aunt.”

“So you’re lying to the kids family now?” Steve sent a displeased look towards Tony.

The man chuckled. “Trust me, Cap, that woman would put the fear of God into you. We needed a cover, Peter here didn’t want his aunt to worry about him being Spider-man.”

Natasha looked over to the teen whose hands were coiling up his mask in nervousness. “You should tell her.” She advised the teen. Peter shook his head. “She deserves to know what you’re up to, if something happens, she’d want to know.”

Peter looked to Mr. Stark before back to the woman. “She knows.”

Natasha raised a brow at the same time Clint muttered. “Bullshit.”

“Watch it Barton, impressionable young ears.”

Peter gave an irritated look towards Mr. Stark despite all the good it did him, turning his attention back towards the woman Peter informed her. “She knows, she walked in on me when I was in the suit...She yelled at Mr. Stark a lot.”

“Yes-Yes she did.” Tony muttered sourly at the reminder before turning a sweet smile onto Natasha. “We’re co-parenting now.” Tony explained to the Avengers when they looked at him.

Peter frowned at that, he wasn’t sure if that was accurate or not but figured it was best to stay out of it. 

“So Peter...You just decided one day to become Spider-man.” Clint smirked.

Peter snorted, it wasn’t as if he’d just suddenly thought up a name and developed his webshooters all in one day. “No, who would do that?”

All fingers pointed towards Tony, the man glared in return. “I’m revoking your priveledges, you’re all going to sleep in the garage.”

Peter chuckled, shaking his head. “Mr. Stark is...Different than me, I-” Peter frowned.

“What is it kid?”

Peter shook his head, the differences between himself and Mr. Stark were too staggaring to even try to bring up. Rather than try and figure that out, he settled for stating. “I didn’t really choose...It just happened.” The teen gave a small shrug. “Freak accident I guess.”

“No, more like poor containment of assets.” Tony chimed in as he frowned, quickly muttering to himself. “We really should sue Oscorp for that.”

Peter rolled his eyes as if this wasn’t the first time he’d heard that particular argument. “Mrs. Potts already told you, Mr. Stark, we’d need proof and that means someone would find out about me.” Peter waved a hand at himself as evidence.

“Right...Now I remember, there was an issue with that.”

Peter smirked as he gave his attention to the other adults. “Anyways, I went on a field trip and-”

“Came home a spiderling.” Tony crowed.

Peter pouted. “I’m not a spiderling.”

“Pick your battles kid...What’s it going to be?” The Avengers watched as some silent battle went on between Stark and the boy, ultimately Peter huffed.

“Fine, but I get to stay out an hour later.”

“Deal, but only on every other Saturday.”

Peter nodded before shaking his head. “Can we make it next Saturday? Aunt May’s birthday is this weekend.”

Tony smirked. “Sure kid, raincheck on the extra hour.”

“Thanks Mr. Stark.”

“Sure thing Spiderling.”

Peter sighed, only to pout when Rhodey called out. “Should have asked for more kid, he’s not going to give that up.”

Tony laughed waving a hand at the now pouting teenager. “See what I mean Rhodes? Kid’s got a lot to learn.”

“That’s so not funny Mr. Stark.” Peter sulked as the adult raved about ‘winning’.

“No, what’s funny is that you think that face your making bothers me, cause it doesn’t.” Tony smirked.

Peter pouted for all of a minute, far too used to Mr. Stark’s ability to shrug off what he said. Mr. Stark always said he paid attention to the important parts and in retrospect arguing over a nickname was pretty stupid. Sighing Peter let the man have his win, it wasn’t the first and it definitely wouldn’t be the last.

Shaking his head Steve interjected before the boy could get into another battle with Tony. “It’s nice to meet you Peter.” He held out his hand.

Peter looked down and then back up, nervously he reached out and took the man’s hand. The man’s grip was firm, but not overly hard, it was as they went to pull apart that Peter winced. His nerves getting the better of him for a moment, making his hand stick to Captain America’s. Steve blinked in surprise when the boy's hand didn’t separate from his own, only to look back at Peter as the teen stammered. 

“Sorry.” The teen pulled back, his hand relaxing and the adhesive quality of his hand relaxing to allow him to release the man’s hand.

Steve smirked, doing his best to assuage the boy's embarrassment. “Quite the grip you got.”

Tony snorted. “You have no idea.” Tony pointed at Peter as he stared straight at Steve. “Pounds per square inch Cap, he can go toe to toe with you.”

Steve turned his head in surprise. “Really?”

“Super strength.” Tony called out in a happy tune as if the ability to mention the kid's strength made his day. “Personally I’d love to see you two arm wrestle, get the guys together, make some popcorn.”

Steve glowered at his friend, that is until Peter laughed. “Mr. Stark, Mrs. Potts already told us that I’m not allowed to do anything strong in the house.”

Tony sighed dramatically. “We break one thing.” He shook his head in great remorse.

Peter grimaced even as he reminded the man. “Well, it was the refrigerator.”

“True...But still, easily replaceable.” Tony shrugged off Pepper’s earlier warnings, Peter’s too as he smirked at Steve. “So what do you say Rodgers? Arm wrestle with the kid?”

Steve shook his head. “No.”

Tony shrugged as if he wasn’t entirely put out by that reply, the truth was he hadn’t counted on Steve agreeing, he was a stick in the mud kinda guy. It was as he opened his mouth to reply that Friday chimed.

“Peter, your aunt is calling, would you like-”

“Crap!” Peter ran towards one of the workstations, digging through a bag as the Avengers looked on. The teen scrabbled with the phone nearly dropping it before managing to answer it. “Heeeeey aunt May...Hmm? Oh, no I’m with Mr. Stark...Yeah, I know, I forgot. I promise I’ll do it when I get home-Huh? Oh-” Peter looked across the room to the faces staring back at him, swallowing nervously the boy asked. “So... How long am I staying?”

Tony chuckled. “When does she want you back?”

Peter shook his head, putting the phone up to his ear. “Mr. Stark wants to know when you want me back...” Peter winced. “Right, Okay...No, Yeah, I’ll tell him.” Pulling the phone to his chest as if to muffle his words Peter replied. “She calls dibs since we’re...Ya know related.”

Tony quirked up a grin at the cringe-worthy face the boy was wearing at that explanation. “Who says we’re not related, I mean the rumor mil-”

“Mr. Stark.” Peter whined.

Chuckling at the tortured expression on the teens face Tony nodded. “Alright, tell her I’ll get you home by 10.”

Nodding Peter picked up the phone. “Mr. Stark said 10.” Peter frowned, looked back over. “You did mean Pm right?”

Tony smirked, no obvious inclination as he muttered. “Sure.”

Peter gave a ‘you’re killing me here’ look before telling his aunt. “Yeah, pretty sure...Well, he didn’t really an- Oh...Okay.” Peter sighed, walking over he held out the phone. “She wants to talk to you now.” The droll tone of voice from the teen made it known that this was something he’d had to put up with a lot.

Tony chuckled as if he had planned the whole thing, taking up the phone, Tony pressed it to his ear and with his normal charismatic flare answered. “May, how are you? I trust you don’t mind me borrowing your favorite nephew?”

Peter rolled his eyes. “I’m her only nephew.”

The Avengers chuckled at the teen's sassed reply, Tony sent the boy a look before answering whatever question May had asked. “Hmm? Well, no, but I’ll make sure that it’s taken care of. Of course, why wouldn’t I-That was a small lapse in judgment.” Tony glared when Clint, Natasha, and Rhodey snorted in unison. “No, I promise, I will return him to you in one piece. Alright then, bye bye.” Tony ended the call and tossed the phone. 

Peter caught it out of the air with a sigh, giving the man a somewhat hesitant look. “What’d she say?”

“Hmm?” Tony waved a hand offhandedly. “Normal spiel kid.”

“She’s not mad is she?”

Tony smirked, the teen could be rather cute when he got that worried expression on his face, god if he didn’t fear his aunt just like Tony did. “Not at you kid, it was about last week.”

“Oh-OH.” Peter winced. “I told her not to worry-”

“Kid, she’s gonna worry no matter how you phrase things, and given your track record, I can’t blame her. Ferry incident comes to mind off the top of my head.” Tony twirled a screwdriver around casually.

“That wasn’t entirely my fault.” Peter petulantly stated, they’d had this argument a few times since the events took place and Peter still stuck to his guns. “You didn’t listen wh-”

Tony shook his head, using the screwdriver to point. “Corner. Go.”

Huffing the teen twisted about and marched over to the nearest corner, rather than sitting in it he climbed back up the wall and glowered down at them all.

“The corner thing, what’s up with that?” Clint asked while smirking back at the kid.

“It’s a timeout, don’t you do those with your kids? I really didn’t think that was groundbreaking stuff Barton.”

Clint snorted, gesturing towards the teen on the ceiling. “My kids normally sit on the ground.”

“Yeah, well that’s his little act of rebellion, isn’t it Pete?”

Peter huffed out a bitter. “I’m still in a corner.”

“See, teenage angst...Gotta love it.” Tony pointed the screwdriver back at the kid. “You stay there until you’re ready to apologize for hacking a multi-million dollar suit and insinuating it was my fault that you went off and nearly got yourself pulled apart like string cheese.”

Peter grumbled but just continued to hang tight on the wall. Rhodey shook his head at his friend, coming forward to snatch the screwdriver out of his friend's hand. “Tony, we gotta talk about this man, you can’t just send a kid out there-”

“I’m not a kid I’m -.” Peter shouted back only to grimace when Tony shouted back.

“Zip it, the adults are talking.”

Clint shook his head, tearing himself away from the group to walk over towards the corner the kid was ‘sitting’ in. Peering up at the kid, found Peter staring back down at him. “So...This happen a lot?”

Peter twisted his head aside, not wanting to see the man’s smirking face. “No.”

“So sure about that? Seems like an ingrained response.”

Peter rolled his eyes. “Mr. Stark can be mean sometimes... He shoved me in a suit once.”

Clint frowned. “Aren’t you already in one?” He waved a hand towards the suit the boy was still presently wearing.

Peter looked down at himself before shaking his head. “Oh, no not this one, I meant one of his...The iron man suits. He locked it up and made me stand in a corner while he was in a meeting, no one even knew I was there! I’d rather just hang here, its kinda claustrophobic being in one of those things.”

Clint chuckled at the ‘torture’ Tony had subjected the kid to, any other person would flock at the idea of being able to be in an Iron-man suit and here this kid was fretting about it happening again. “Alright, makes sense, don’t think I’d like being in one of those either.”

Peters gaze shifted when Captain America himself came to stand beside the archer, Hawkeye his memory reminded him.

“Hey, kid.” The man offered up a bright smile.

“Hey Captain America.”

Clint snorted, chuckling when Steve sent him a scathing look before smiling back up at the kid. “Steve, it’s just Steve.”

“Are you sure? That seems kinda...Disrespectful.”

“Do you want us to call you Spider-man all the time?” Clint sassed.

“Well no.” Peter shook his head. “That would be awkward- but that’s different, I’m nobody, just a kid-”

“You’re not nobody, you’re sticking up for the little guy, I respect that kid.” Steve smiled. “No reason you shouldn’t use our names.”

Peter shrugged, his eyes widening when Mr. Stark shouted. “Hey, he’s in trouble, no talking with the inmate.”

Peter pouted as Steve and Clint twisted to stare back at Tony who was apparently done being ripped into by Rhodey, by the smile on Natasha’s face it had been good. Tony met the kid's eyes as the other men walked back. “You ready to apologize?”

Peter huffed. “I just meant-”

“Ehn! Not the answer I was looking for.” Tony looked back towards his friends. “So, other than getting involved in my co-parenting adventures, how about we get to why you’re really here.”

The group shrugged, there was no real reason not to. Though Rhodey questioned as he jerked a thumb towards the teen. “Are you really going to keep the kid there?”

“Why not?” Tony threw back. “He’s in trouble.”

Rhodey sighed at his friend's nonchalant response. “Whatever man.”

Nodding Tony pulled up the schematics for the new Avengers compound and started weighing the pros and cons of doing certain things. Taking the other's opinions when it came to the location of certain features, namely security protocols on how to enter and exit the building in the case of an emergency. 

“Vents need to be bigger.” Clint pointed.

“Why?” Tony muttered around his pencil that he was holding between his teeth, despite doing everything via his tablet. No one argued why he chose to do things this way, they knew they’d just get a random answer.

“So we could get through them if we needed to.” Natasha clarified. “There’s been plenty of times where vents have been the only way out of places. Make them bigger.”

Sighing, Tony made some adjustments on the Stark pad, the hologram updating. He looked over his glasses in a silent ‘better?’ Both Natasha and Clint nodded. “Great so that’s worked out, now, labs...I know Banner wants one below ground, something about his lab equipment being safer there.” Tony scrolled down, showing the deepest they were going. “Where to put him...”

“You don’t want to put him near the garage Mr. Stark, the vibrations cou-.”

Tony looked up, the simple fact that he made eye contact shut Peter up. The teen swallowed. They maintained eye contact for a minute, no one knew what was going to happen next. Whether Tony was going to tell the kid to silence himself outright or lecture him about intruding on Avengers business. Tony surprised them all by spitting out his pencil onto the workstation and nodding towards Peter. 

“Alright Underoos, I’ll give you a shot...Impress me and you’re not grounded.”

“Grounded! Mr. Stark-”

“Uh-Uh-Uh...You heard me.” Tony pointed to the hologram. “What’s it going to be?”

Peter jumped down from the ceiling coming over to the table where the holographic display laid out the ground plans for the compound. “Umm. Well, if Dr. Banner is doing some of his isotope work then you want it insulated, not because it’s dangerous but because vibrations could crack some of the supplies and those can have reactions whi-”

“Peter.” Tony stopped the teen from rambling, he waved a hand at the display and with a smile asked. “Where would you put it?”

Peter reached out, pointing at a layer in the compound. “But at least five inches of concrete above and below and some kind of insulation on either side of that...Keep everything secluded, isolated as if it were a hazardous lab.”

Tony typed a few things and the hologram changed, Peter tilted his head this way and that. “Cold storage...Temperature controlled is best actually, so he can go back and forth as needed and a sanitation bay.”

Tony typed a few things in, only to pause when Peter pointed at something. “No, move that here.” Tony typed a few things and the display updated. Peter nodded. “Yep, like that.” Peter took a small step back to look at it, it was a great lab if he was honest with himself. He turned to stare back at Mr. Stark only just now realizing that he’d barked orders to Mr. Stark about how to build a laboratory. Someone who had literally built his own workshops from the ground up, Peter was an idiot. “Umm...Not that this is like the only way to do this, cause there’s like literally over a thousand ways to set up a lab, especially one suited to what Dr. Banner uses, not to mention I don’t know exactly what compounds he uses in his experiments or any specialty equipment he might have so-”

Tony snorted as he typed something, everyone turned to the display when it updated, at first, they couldn’t see what had changed, then Clint picked up on it and laughed.

“Cold man, that’s cold.” He pointed to the change so the others could be clued in, in the corner there was a notation. “Plans altered by Peter Parker, any discrepancies are his fault.”

“Can I just go back to the corner now.” The teen pouted.

Tony laughed, shaking his head. “Go figure out what went wrong on the updated web shooter.”

Although relieved to not be forced back into a corner, Peter tried to point out. “I already to-”

“Prove it.” Tony cut the teen off.

Nodding Peter walked the short ways to where the device had been cast aside, picking up and some tools he set himself up at another table and got to work. Tony smiled, twisting back around he glared at the smiling faces of his friends.

“Zip it.”

“I didn’t say anything!”

The group laughed at the boy's startled shout as Tony sighed, calling back to the teen. “Not you kid.”

“Oh.”

Steve leaned forward, disrupting the hologram enough that Tony disgruntedly shut it off. “What Rogers?”

“He’s a good kid Tony.”

“I’m already well aware of what he is.” The tech genius stated as he typed a few final things on the Stark pad before setting it aside. “Known that long before you were dropping freight carriers on him.” He taunted the man.

Steve sucked in a hard breath at the reminder. “I-I did-

Tony chuckled at how frozen the man seemed by that. “Relax Capsicle, the kids fine, he was more frustrated than hurt. He hasn’t even held a grudge, then again, his hero worship thing is out of this world...Pretty hard to get the kid to stay mad at you, trust me I’ve tried.”

“Like you said I doubt it took much effort, you have a way with people.” Rhodey replied in a civil tone despite the words.

“Thank you, I always knew I was a people person. Pepper really should reconsider letting me make those board member addresses.”

“She really shouldn’t.” Rhodey snorted. “Not if you want to keep control of your company.”

“Please, we both know I could buy them all out.”

Rhodey sighed, shaking his head. “That’s not the point Tones.”

“Then what was it? That I’m still all-powerful when it comes to running my company even though I’m technically not running it? Cause, that’s what I’m getting from this little exchange.” Tony smirked in a self-satisfied manner as he reclined in his seat.

The man gave his friend an exasperated look but didn’t bother to put forth the energy to argue with Tony again. 

“How you kept it all together this long still confuses me.” Clint gave a broad smile.

“How you manage not to strangle yourself with that bow also eludes me...Seems we both got stuff to work on.”

Clint snorted at the man’s weak comeback, getting nudged by Natasha a moment later and following her gaze to where the kid was sitting at another table. Whatever he’d been playing with must have exploded because the kid was pulling at a giant ball of webbing and not so subtly trying to get rid of it by sticking it to the bottom of the table like it was a piece of gum and not a softball sized piece of webbing. He and Natasha shared like grins.

“Well, now that the work is done, I’ll invite you all to leave, got work to do with the kid and all. Gotta get him home in time for curfew or I have to deal with his unreasonable hot aunt who frankly is pretty terrifying.”

“Eew. Mr. Stark.”

Tony chuckled at the teen's response to what he’d said. “Figure out the problem yet Spider-boy?”

The teen huffed, walked over and put down the web shooter and a cartridge of what appeared to be some kind of fluid. “See, I was right, the new shooters aren’t compatible with the old cartridges. They get jammed every other time and then you get nothing but air.”

Tony picked up the device looked it over and then picked up the vial of fluid, he put the cartridge into the shooter and locked it down. Whipping it over he shot a line of webbing towards the other side of the room only for him to hear a click.

Peter nodded. “See?”

Tony hummed, quickly ejecting the cartridge and twisting it about between his thumb and forefinger. “Think we can shave them down to fit.”

Peter grimaced at the idea of that. “That doesn’t sound like a very good idea Mr. Stark.”

“No way to know but to try.”

Peter sighed. “That sounds like a really bad idea.” Peter caught the cartridge when Mr. Stark threw it his way and looked down at it. “Wouldn’t it just be easier to make new ones?”

“Definitely.” Tony nodded.

“But we’re not going to do that are we?” The boy's voice was already resigned as if he’d only asked the question because he’d had some small hope the man would change his mind.

“Nope.” Tony pointed towards the workstation just a few feet away from the one he was presently sitting at. “Get to it.”

“Aunt May wants me home by 10, this could take to long to refine Mr. Stark, I won't get any patrolling done.” Peter held up the cartridge to see just how he could go about ‘filing’ the thing down to fit. There didn’t appear to be an easy way to go about doing that. “What if it explodes?”

“You’re Spider-man, this shouldn’t be hard for you to figure out.”

“There’s a difference between shooting webs and having a small bomb of webbing go off on you.” Peter mumbled as he walked to the workstation to go about his task.

Tony snorted at the kid's lackluster argument not even bothering to reply, turning his attention once more to his friends. “So...We done here?”

Natasha raised a brow at him. “Think you could get rid of us that easily?”

“Was hoping, but then again that might have just been the fumes from Peter’s science experiment...Which reminds me-”

“I already cleaned it up Mr. Stark.”

“Alright, you get a gold star, finish your work.” Tony gave Natasha a once over. “Problem?”

She smirked. “I’m insulted Stark, didn’t introduce me to a fellow spider.”

Tony laughed. “He’s not your kind of spider...More cute and cuddly type doesn’t have much of a bite.”

Natasha shrugged, not the least bit put out on how Tony was talking about her skillset. Natasha didn’t say another word to Tony as she crossed the small divide to Peter, the teen glanced up but quickly diverted his gaze back to his work. She smirked, Tony was right, he was cute, awkward teenager turned superhero cute. “So...How’d you really become a spider?”

Peter opened his mouth only to sigh as Mr. Stark shouted. “Don’t answer that, if I’m not allowed to sue Oscorp you’re not allowed to spill the beans on your dirty little secret either.”

Peter gave a sympathizing smile to the woman, she winked back at him as if she wasn’t truly bothered by being told no. Peter returned to his work, barely managing to get the cartridge to fit into the web shooter after nearly twenty minutes of going back and forth between filing and jamming it into a web shooter. Humming at the sight of it, Peter figured there was really nothing else he could do to make it ‘workable’ let alone safe.

Twisting about, Peter smiled. “I got it in Mr. Stark.”

“Great, bring it here.” 

Peter walked over, a smile on his face as he handed the web shooter over for the man’s perusal. “Can I go on patrol now?” He gave a nervous glance at the other superheroes. “It’s getting later-”

“Uh-Uh, let me finish critiquing your work, then you can go tie up bad guys.”

Peter sighed, leaning back on his heels as he watched Mr. Stark analyze the web shooter, he was nervous for more than one reason of course. The biggest reason being that he was being critiqued by someone like Tony Stark, but also being critiqued by Tony Stark in front of the Avengers. Plus Peter knew this wasn’t a good example of his skills, this was just Mr. Stark making him do grunt work that he was just going to throw out. 

Tony nodded, the kid had gotten the old cartridge to fit just as he’d asked him, gazing over the work to the teen Tony saw how he kept glancing to the others, the project Tony was holding and then Tony himself. Peter froze when their eyes met, Tony smirked. “Good going kid.” He tossed the webshooter, cartridge included. 

Peter caught the device, nodded and then frowned. “But-”

“What can you tell me about it?” Tony asked as he sat back on his stool.

Peter looked down, then up. Bitterly honest Peter stated. “It’s completely jacked up.”

Tony smirked. “Why?”

“Square peg, round hole...The old cartridge wasn’t made for this new web shooter, despite being of a similar design how the cartridge is punctured is different. The old cartridges buckle under the pressure and release air instead of webbing...You wanted me to file one down, but...Just because it fits doesn’t mean it works.”

Tony nodded his head along with what the boy was saying, when Peter stopped talking and look even more nervous than when he’d begun, Tony hummed. “Alright...Good working theory there kid.”

Peter gave a wane smile, not quite trusting his mentors easy going praise.

“What’cha going to do with a broken web shooter?”

Peter blinked, looked down at the web shooter which was now jammed with an old cartridge. Frowning Peter looked up and with a dower tone asked. “Was this your way of grounding me? Literally.”

Tony chuckled when the boy figured it out. “Yes.” Peter groaned. “And no.” Peter blinked in surprise when Tony shifted to pull out a small case. “Been working on these, knew the older models were shot and the ones you currently have didn’t fit the old cartridges...Been working on some new stuff, but until we get those ones in shape. Use these.” Tony opened the case, two small wristlets were inside, the slim shape and fragile appearance beguiled what was inside.

“Mr. Stark?” Peter gaped at the new tech.

“Now...Rules.” Tony held up his hand. “Prototype web shooters, wear your other not totaled one as a backup rip cord.” Tony gave the boy a firm look, Peter nodded. “Good, didn’t tamper with the webfluid but used a new type of cartridge, I’m hoping it’s more stable long term but we’ll see. If something gets jammed, for the love of god Peter don’t try and fix it. Bring it back here so I can show you how to fix it before asking Karen to DIY tutorial it.”

Peter chuckled before waving his hands as he was glared at. “I promise Mr. Stark, I won’t do that again.”

Nodding Tony shoved the case over and let Peter put the new web shooters on his wrist. The boy deployed them easily enough and quickly took up his mask. Putting it back on to see what Karen had to say. “This is so cool!”

The Avengers chuckled as the boy fiddled with things on his wrist before talking to who they assumed to be the suit’s AI. “Yeah, we’re totally going to test that out Karen.”

Tony cleared his throat, the boys head came up, the eye lenses widening a bit. “Umm...I promise it’s safe?”

“Great on the follow through with that kid, really impressed. You know my rules with prototypes.”

“Yes. Mr. Stark.”

“Good.” Tony appraised the kid's stiff nature, he knew he was on guard now that he’d given himself away. Not one to put a damper on the kids fun, so long as it wouldn’t kill him, Tony waved a hand. “Go wild.”

Peter twisted to go and get his bag so he could go on patrol only to pause three steps in. “Curfew stands kid, be home by ten or night-night   goes in effect.”

Peter flinched at that. “Alright.” Peter took another step.

“Hack those and I will make you use silly string for the next month to get around.”

Peter twisted sharply to frown at his mentor. “That doesn’t even work.”

“Watch me, kid, I’ve invented a lot of things and if it means I get to teach you a lesson I’m okay with staying up late.”

Peter pouted at that. “I promise I won’t hack anything.”

Tony waved a hand, a shooing motion to send the boy on his way. Peter turned and with his back to Tony rolled his eyes. Walking back to his gear and quickly stuffing things into his bag. The teen looked to the other heroes as he stood, backpack dangling from his hand. “Nice to meet you all.”

They nodded as they watched the teen throw his backpack over his shoulder and walk to the other side of the room, shoving a window open and climbing out, he stood there on the glass of the window and seemingly hanging from his feet a moment. “Don’t worry Mr. Stark I’ll be careful...I promise not to fall off the empire state building again.”

Tony huffed. “Stop lying to me kid and just go.”

Peter laughed, a carefree sound that invoked the youth of his person. “Alright, bye.” Peter shot a line of web to the nearby streetlight and waved. Pushing off the glass, Peter went swinging towards the pole and quickly shot another web further away to continue his journey.

Tony looked back at the rest of the Avengers, the group having been completely silent as he talked with the kid. Something surprising until he noticed the smiles on their faces, taking a deep breath Tony stated. “One word and I will systematically put in a protocol for each and every one of your rooms, and you won’t like what they do.”

Clint smirked, not bothered by the man's threat. “If you ever need kid advice, you know where to find me.”

Tony rolled his eyes at the man’s taunt. “Please, I’m co-parenting May takes care of all the...Teenage parts, I take care of the superhero bits.”

Clint chuckled. “Sure man, whatever you say.” 

Rhodey was chuckling along with Clint, not at all fooled by what Tony had been trying to pass off as cool aloofness. Tony glared at the pair of them, his eyes navigating to Natasha and Steve next. “Well? Aren’t you going to have your say?”

Natasha nodded. “He’s a good kid, don’t ruin him, I won’t forgive you if you do.”

Tony blinked. “Alright...I’ll make sure to put that on my to-do list, how could I possibly ruin the kid? He’s like a puppy who can climb walls, that also goes around yapping at peoples heels.”

Natasha rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean.”

Tony shrugged. “If anything that kid will ruin me...Do you know how many grey hairs I’ve gotten since taking him in?” He waved at his own head as if to point some out to the woman.

The woman smiled. “Sure, blame the kid.”

“I intend to.”

“Tony.”

Looking to Steve, Tony was prepared for a great many classic hits on the super soldier radio of ‘you shouldn’t do this’ which was probably why he was shocked to hear the man say with a smile. “Give the kid a room.”

Tony huffed. “He gets a room now? Since when?”

“If he’s going to be hanging around, he might as well have a place to crash.”

“See...That’s where you’re wrong. The whole point of him not having a room is to make sure he goes home.” Tony waved a hand in the air as if he had to explain that to the man.

Steve gave him a stoic look. “Tony, are you really going to send Peter home if it’s late and you two get caught up in-” He waved his own hand at the discarded web shooter that the teen had broken. 

Tony gave a dramatic sigh. “I suppose not...I don’t want him getting the wrong impression though...This isn’t some clubhouse it’s-”

“It’s a clubhouse.” Rhodey interceded with a smirk. “For superheroes only right? Kid fits the bill.”

The others smiled even as Tony glared at his friend. “Fine. Kid gets a room, BUT he is not moving stuff in the compound. Extra set of clothes and that’s it.”

The Avengers all nodded, agreeing to the man's terms even if they all secretly knew it wouldn’t be long before Peter brought other stuff along beside that allotted extra set of clothes.

“Great, now get out...I need to find some reason to make the kid re-work the plans for Banner's lab.” He picked up the Starkpad and opened the document, scowling through what Peter had added and moved around.

“Why?” Natasha threw out with a frown. “Was there something wrong with them?”

Tony scoffed. “Of course not, the kids a genius.”

“Then why-”

Looking up from the work, Tony replied. “Because I can and this is what we call a teachable moment.” Tony smiled back at them all as if he truly believed what he’d just said. Then again, he probably did.

“Alright, what are you teaching him?”

Tony smirked, maintaining eye contact with the group. “Friday delete the plan adjustments Peter made.”

“Deleting.”

The group's eyes widened. 

“Always back up your work.” Tony grinned.

“Tony!-”

The man held up a hand, putting a finger to his lips. “Listen carefully.” Tony got glares in return for his chiding tone. “Friday call the kid.”

“Calling Peter.”

The sound of wind was heard as the boy's voice filtered through. “Mr. Stark?”

“Hey, kid.”

“Did I forget something? Or did-Did you like need something? I can swing back, I mean I just got back into town and all, but I-”

Tony smirked as Peter rambled a bit, he waited for a minute before interjecting while the teen was mid-sentence. “Kid got some bad news for you...Friday accidentally deleted those files we made on Banner's lab.”

“Oh? Dang...Really?”

The glare he was receiving could have curdled milk, but Tony just called out. “Yeah, sorry kid, guess you should think about saving your work in multiple spots.”

“You saved it.” Peter panted, the sounds of gravel reached the air as the wind sound ceased. The teen obviously having landed somewhere.

“Kid you always keep a backup.” Tony lectured. “Make up a new set, I’ll email you the schematics, make them better.”

“S-Sure thing Mr. Stark...Oh, hey I gotta go.”

Tony smirked, knowing the change in the boy's tone. “What’cha got kid?”

Rather than answer the question, Peter posed a question. “Why do people always try to rob ATM’s? Like you can’t possibly rip that out of the wall...Well, I mean I might be able to, but like they can’t...Yet that is literally what he’s trying to do and it’s really-really not working.” The teen sighed. “Alright, I’m gonna go...Stop that.”

“Go get him kid.”

“Bye Mr. Stark.” 

The line ended and Tony smiled at them all. “The kid’s going to be better.” He assured his friends, a calm demeanor about him as he spoke these finite words.

“Better than what?” Steve questioned with a frown.

“Better than me.” Tony rose from the stool and passed by, patting Steve on the shoulder as he went. “Come on, let's go figure out who gets the big bedroom and no Clint you can’t have a jacuzzi, I’m sorry. I know it breaks your heart.”

The archer rolled his eyes as the man rambled off all the reasons he couldn’t have a tub that he’d never asked for. Natasha smirked at him as they watched Steve pull ahead to argue with Tony one on one about plans for the new place.

“Think he’s right?” Clint muttered.

“About?” Rhodey sighed with a shake of his head as Tony was making broad gestures up ahead of them.

“About the kid.” Clint uttered. “Think he’ll be better than Tony?”

Natasha hummed. “He’s Spider-man, not Iron-man.” She thought a moment before getting a predatory grin. “Iron-Spider doesn’t sound so bad.”

Clint and Rhodey chuckled, loud enough that Tony and Steve turned to look at them in confusion.

“What’s funny?” Tony scowled. “You shouldn’t be enjoying yourselves, you disrupted my work.”

Rhodey couldn’t help but throwback. “Talking about the kid's inevitable take over as your better.”

Tony smirked. “No cheating.” He pointed at them. “Make him figure it out on his own or it doesn’t count.” Winking Tony twisted back around and started talking once more with Steve. 

  
  



End file.
